Word-of-mouth marketing for recruiting refers to the recruiting process that occurs naturally when a firm’s employees share the benefits of working in their organization with their circle. Employees know what it is like to work in their firm, and so they refer candidates, who according to them are suitable for the firm they are working in.
Most recruitment agencies agree that the main source for filling up vacancies is referrals. A study by The Marketing Advisory Network, a US-based marketing consulting practice firm, found that brand messages reach 561% more when shared by employees than by the brand itself. This blog tells you why you need to employ word-of-mouth for recruiting and how you can do it.
The importance of using word-of-mouth marketing for recruiting
The internet is used extensively these days, and so recruiting strategies have gone digital. Even then, companies rely a lot on their current employees for sourcing new employees. This form of employee recruitment ranks even above career websites, says a report by CareerXroads, a leading talent acquisition, and recruiting firm.
So, firms need to focus on their employee engagement and satisfaction by developing a culture of organizational integrity. This will help in keeping your employees happy so that you gain a good reputation.
How to use word-of-mouth marketing for recruiting?
You can tap into the potential of word-of-mouth marketing for recruiting employees in several ways. These are discussed below.
1. Ask for employee reviews
Reviews from your employees are vital sources of information for prospective applicants to your firm. They look for assurance that it is worth applying to your firm. So, ask your employees for reviews on a platform like Facebook, Yelp, or Google My Business. Do make sure that you monitor reviews and respond to them regularly.
To generate reviews on these platforms, put up your business’s profile there. Then, send the links of your review page to your happy employees to simplify their task of providing feedback. Once you get several reviews, pick out the best ones and highlight them on your social media accounts and your website.
2. Gather employee testimonials
You can increase your recruitment through word-of-mouth marketing in yet another way by asking for employee testimonials. Reach out to those employees who are happy working with your firm and ask them for testimonials. Incorporate the practice of saving testimonials in a spreadsheet. This will help your recruiting team to repurpose those as and when needed.
They can extract comments and quotes from the testimonials and convert them into attractive content in the form of animated videos, graphs, illustrations, or images and share them across different social media networks. This will not only attract prospective employee candidates but also prospective customers.
3. Run a referral program
You can tap into the potential of word-of-mouth marketing for recruiting by running an employee referral program. For, through these, you get to get the right people to speak in favor of your brand via rewarding them. Your employees are more likely to get active in recommending your firm around as there’s an incentive attached. This is usually in the form of cash and is referred to as a referral fee.
Further, referral programs get people to work on your behalf as they’re transparent. For, it doesn’t ask anyone to lie positively about your brand; rather it only encourages them to get on their feet recommending prospective employees to your brand. And everyone involved gains something from it! We suggest that you use an attractive referral email template for this purpose. You can also handout referral cards which they can share with their friends and family.
4. Motivate employee advocacy
You can encourage your employees to develop brand affinity and be your brand advocates by having a great company culture. When they are delighted with the positive work atmosphere, they start spreading a favorable word about your firm. Reports say that firms with an employee advocacy strategy are 60% more likely to gain highly competitive applicants and 20% more likely to keep them.
So, keep a plan for keeping up their enthusiasm. And ensure that you don’t mandate advocacy. Just encourage it. So that it comes out naturally, willingly, and voluntarily. Here are 5 ways to do it.
- Educate and train employees to feel comfortable and confident in promoting your company on social media.
- Motivate employees to share relevant and useful content. Let them know that this not only promotes brand awareness but also helps establish themselves as thought leaders in their field.
- Make content easily shareable.
- Your top advocates contribute significant value to the company.
- Measure your employee advocacy program’s success across social media networks.
5. Create a network of trust
Source: InviteReferrals
Generating trust among its employees is one of the most challenging things for a company. However, if achieved, it can have an enormous impact. This is where a positive company culture, values, and policies help. Good company culture is one where employees’ concerns are listened to and fixed. It’s where they feel respected. You can come up with such an environment by-
- Delivering what you promise
- Demonstrating integrity
- Encouraging employee feedback with the intention of continual improvement
- Launching a strong company culture and imposing policies that everyone adheres to
- Having a company-wide social media policy that ensures that your employees behave well on social media networks
Wrapping up
Even these days of extensive internet usage, when companies can hire through career websites, they find word-of-mouth marketing for recruiting the best source. For, employees bring in the best quality prospective employee candidates.
You can tap into the potential of word-of-mouth marketing for this purpose in several ways. Asking for employee reviews, gathering employee testimonials, running a referral program, motivating employee advocacy, and creating a network of trust are some of those. Do implement these to recruit the best candidates.
